Diabetes education and management is now just one easy online form or phone call away thanks to the recent launch of Diabetes Central Ottawa – Intake and Referral.
Adults 18 and older with Type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes can now use this referral system to access six different free diabetes programs across the city, making it easy to self-refer. Health care providers also need just one form and fax number to refer patients.
Type 2 diabetes is when the body resists the insulin it makes, resulting in less sugar being removed from the blood. Pre-diabetes is when blood sugar levels are higher than normal. This can lead to Type 2 diabetes.
The key to these programs is they work with diabetics to figure out how to best manage their particular situation, says Debra Beauregard, program co-ordinator for Diabetes Central Ottawa.
There are six different programs that each have specific services available, she says.
In the past, health care providers and those wanting diabetes education and management had to have known about the different programs. Now, the new referral system can help them find the right ones, she says.
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s Ontario Diabetes Strategy manages the six community-based programs, which are available at 18 different sites across the city.
The Centretown Community Health Centre, on Cooper Street, runs one of these: the Community Diabetes Education Program of Ottawa.
All programs have different strengths and different services, says Barbara Neuwelt, director of diabetes program. For example, some offer services in multiple languages.
The diabetes program has a much larger staff, so it offers services at 10 different sites across the city, she says.
We have educators here at Centretown Community Health Centre, but we also have educators at other centres in the city, she says.
Neuwelt says she hopes the new referral system will bring in more clients to the Centretown location.
“In the past, we’ve had the capacity to serve more clients than we have seen and we know there are many people with diabetes that we weren’t seeing,” she says.
The programs vary from individual to group sessions. They also cater to specific needs such as insulin management, food label reading classes and blood sugar control.
In 2012, the Champlain Local Health Integration Network, the Ontario agency that coordinates and funds health services in Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley, conducted a study that found thatthe biggest barriers towards diabetes education are: individuals not knowing where to get information from, where these programs are and how to access them, Beauregard says.
Another issue was that doctors would recommend patients to programs they were familiar with or which were close to their offices. This was a problem because the doctor’s office may be far from a patient’s home, she says.
So travel time was an issue. In some cases, there were programs closer to them as well, she adds.
With diabetes rates slightly increasing in Ottawa, the need for better access to diabetes management and education is important.
The condition affects about nine per cent of the adult population in Ottawa. The numbers three years ago were slightly lower, says Beauregard.
“It is one disease whereby you can make a huge difference through lifestyle management,” she says. “You can actually live well with your diabetes and your diabetes doesn’t have to manage you – you can manage it.”
The more understanding a person has about his or her chronic disease, the more chances there are to eliminate or reduce those risks, says Colleen Blackwell McMahon, a certified diabetes educator and registered nurse.